What’s in a name? What’s in a checkpoint?

By: Nadia Abuelezam

This week’s episode of Palestinians Podcast features Hasheemah Afaneh, an American born and Palestinian raised master’s student at Louisiana State University. Hasheemah’s episode highlights her “reverse diasporic” experience of growing up and attending college in Palestine and returning to the United States for graduate school during the challenging current social and political climate. Hasheemah also discusses how she has related to her name over time and how this has formed the way she interacts with those around her. 

Hasheemah is also a writer and manages a blog. While she has consistently written for a number of years, one set of blog posts particularly struck me entitled: “The Two Sides of the Qalandia Checkpoint.” In this multi-part blog series, Hasheemah describes her multi-faceted experiences with the Qalandia checkpoint. She describes her own goings and comings and also describes moments in her memories that relate to or involve the checkpoint. Her writing is vivid and nostalgic, despite describing an often traumatic experience. 

Hasheemah also has some podcasting experience. She recently helped produce and narrate an episode about Nablus and her experience walking through the city for the last time. The episode is stunning with reflections, music, and city sounds. I’d highly recommend a listen! 

Hasheemah reached out to me by email when she listened to an episode of the podcast and really enjoyed it. It was wonderful to hear from a listener and this has turned into a wonderful correspondence and collaboration. I’m grateful for all those who listen to the podcast and continue to support this endeavor! You can reach out and tell us what you think by emailing us at stories@palestinianspodcast.com! 

Thank you for your support!